Romancing the car

A stunning woman won't set his heart racing but a car is more than enough to leave Aussie bloke Edward Smith gasping for more. Smith claims to have had romantic relationships with 1,000 cars, insisting that he would prefer a car over a woman any day.

Smith's current ‘girlfriend’ is a white Volkswagen Beetle named Vanilla, and he seems to be quite happy with his car partner, claiming that he was not sick and has no plans to change his ways. "I appreciate beauty and I go a little bit beyond appreciating the beauty of a car only to the point of what I feel is an expression of love. Maybe I'm a little bit off the wall but when I see movies like Herbie and Knight Rider, where cars become loveable, huggable characters, it's just wonderful," The Telegraph quoted him as saying.

He added: "I'm a romantic. I write poetry about cars. I sing to them and talk to them just like a girlfriend. I know what's in my heart and I have no desire to change. I'm not sick and I don't want to hurt anyone. Cars are just my preference." The 57-year-old man was just 15 when he first romanced a car, and insists that women or men, for that matter, have never been his preference. The only other thing that he has had a ‘fling’ with other than cars was a helicopter.

Apart from Vanilla, his other vehicle partners are a 1973 Opal GT, named Cinnamon, and 1993 Ford Ranger Splash, named Ginger.

He also had a five-year ‘relationship’ with Victoria, a 1969 VW Beetle he bought from a family of Jehovah's Witnesses, before Vanilla entered his life. He has also admitted that most of the cars he loved and ‘dated’ were owned by strangers or car showrooms.

Smith, a resident of Washington State in the US, did not make his secret fetish public until recently. He finally agreed to be interviewed as part of a Channel Five documentary. He said: "Its something that grew as a part of me when I was a kid. I just loved cute cars right from the beginning. When I turned 13 and the famous Corvette Stingray came about, that car was pure attraction and just an incredible machine. I wanted it. I didn't fully understand it myself except that I know I'm not hurting anyone and I do not intend to."

He added: "There are moments way out in the middle of nowhere when I see a little car parked and I swear it needs loving. There have been certain cars that attracted me and I would wait until night time, creep up to them and just hug and kiss them. As far as women go, they never really interested me much. And I'm not gay." Now, Smith is a member of a global community of more than 500 ‘car lovers’ brought together by Internet forums. — ANI

HOME